1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a broadcast apparatus and a broadcast method, and more particularly, to a broadcast apparatus and a broadcast method having personalized broadcast parameters.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a user controlling a broadcast apparatus through a remote controller in the prior art. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that, in a main menu, a broadcast apparatus 11 provides an Internet television broadcast function, a personal video recorder (PVR) playback function, a DVD playback function and a video game function.
A method for controlling the broadcast apparatus 11 is generally as follows. After viewing the menu on a screen, a user 1 selects a desired function with a remote controller such as an input device 12, and performs corresponding controls. That is, to meet personal requirements, a user needs to figure out a current state of the broadcast apparatus 11, and how to select a function from the menu.
In FIG. 1, the function menu is presented as a function menu in hierarchical tree structure. For example, the user 1 may first learn that the main menu provides four options of Internet television, PVR playback, DVD playback and video games after turning on the broadcast apparatus 11.
Among the above four options, the Internet television function provides various types of channels, allowing the user to select a movie channel, an entertainment channel or a news channel. Each type of channels may further involve several channels. For example, when the user enters a movie channel menu, the user may further select a desired movie channel from a movie channel A, a movie channel B and a movie channel C. Similarly, when the user enters a news channel menu, the user may further select a desired news channel from a first news channel #1, a second news channel #2 and a third news channel #3.
Taking the video games function for example, with many available game options (e.g., games A, B, C, . . . and Z) provided in the video game mode, the user needs to first select a desired game (e.g., a game H) from the various options. After selecting the desired game, the user may need to further select settings such as one-player mode or multi-player mode as well as a game difficulty level. That is, in addition to selecting the type of game to be played, the user is required to make further selections from the game menu.
Similarly, the PVR playback function, the DVD playback function or other functions supported by the broadcast apparatus 11 also need to be manually selected by the user. Further, other preferences such as volume and subtitle settings may require frequent and repetitive setting due to different users and personal habits.
That is to say, while providing various audio/video functions, the broadcast apparatus 11 may also bring forth a complicated operation interface, which may be intimidating to the commons with merely ordinary skills in electronic products. In other words, the conventional broadcast apparatus 11 needs to yet provide more user-friendly manipulations.
To improve the sophisticated function menu and control operations of the broadcast apparatus 11, in the prior art, a remote control device having memory function is developed for cooperating with a broadcast apparatus.
In short, several user-preferred functions are pre-recorded in the remote control device having a memory function. For example, after setting a hotkey A, while a user watches a news channel, the hotkey A may be pressed to directly prompt the broadcast apparatus to stop broadcasting the news channel and to switch to perform a pre-selected video game function.
Although the remote control device having a memory function in the prior art eliminates the issue of a user manually selecting a desired function from a complicated menu, such approach is rather standardized, allowing only limited flexibilities.
For example, a user needs to perform a process below when setting the hotkey A. To correspond to the hotkey A to a predetermined operation, the user needs to switch from the news channel to the video game mode, and to choose a personalized mode of activating a video game A with a difficulty level of 10.
Meanwhile, a process of the remote control device corresponding to the hotkey A is selecting an exit key [→], selecting the exit key [→], selecting a down key [↓] for three consecutive times, selecting the down key [↓] for nine consecutive times, and pressing a select key [OK/enter].
However, environmental settings of each user operation may not always be the same.
For example, instead of starting video games after watching the news channel, the user may start video games after watching a DVD. Further, the video game desired by the user may also change, e.g., the video game A previously set may change to the video game Z, or the difficulty level of the video game A may be reduced and the player mode may be adjusted to a double-player mode when playing video games with family.
For any of the above situations, the control procedure corresponding to the hotkey A cannot be directly applied to the broadcast apparatus. In other words, in the event that the initial function menu or target function option differs from an initially configured process of the hotkey A, the hotkey A may fail to fully practice an effect of simplified controls.
Therefore, only when the remote control device is capable of recording all possible function switch settings, the control procedure of the broadcast apparatus can then be simplified through the remote control device. However, for diversified functions offered by the broadcast apparatus and an even greater number of combinations from these functions, the control procedure of the remote control device provides a rather limited control procedure—the control procedure of the broadcast apparatus is simplified through converting merely several specific initial functions to target functions. Further, although the remote control device provides multiple keys for accommodating various operation combinations, the user is required to memorize the combinations of the hotkeys. Therefore, there is a need for an improved solution for a menu switching method of the broadcast apparatus.